ARTICLES ABOUT DEATH ROW BY DATE - PAGE 4

Florida is usually on the front end of a lot of trends, but not this time. According to a story in USA Today, there is increasing evidence that America could be losing its taste for capital punishment. Death sentences and executions have declined, and Connecticut this week became the 17th state to abolish the death penalty. You could make a strong case that it should be abolished in Florida. Condemned felons spend an average of 12.9 years on death row in the state before execution, and its not unusual to see somebody on death row up to 20 years.

There's an old courthouse saying, "Only a fool for a client would have himself as a lawyer. " But if twice-convicted Florida Death Row inmate Albert Holland stands trial a third time for the 1990 killing of Pompano Beach police officer Scott Winters, poetic justice dictates that he be allowed to represent himself. A federal judge in Miami this month overturned Holland's conviction and ordered a new trial after finding that Broward Circuit Judge Charles Greene improperly denied Holland's right to represent himself during his 1996 retrial.

It's a case that just won't close. The only murder of an officer in the line of duty in the history of the Pompano Beach Police Department took place 22 years ago. The suspect, Albert Holland, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Twice. But Holland, now 54, may be headed for a third trial in the July 1990 murder of officer Scott Winters. A federal judge in Miami recently overturned his conviction after ruling that Broward Circuit Judge Charles Greene was wrong to deny Holland the right to represent himself at his second trial in 1996.

After 32 years, convicted murderer Paul Scott on Monday finally got the chance to tell a judge about the powers that he says have conspired to keep him on Death Row. The 55-year-old, who was sentenced to death for the 1978 bludgeoning death of Boca Raton florist James Alessi, was given the rare opportunity to leave the state's most secure prison to appear in court to explain why he wanted a new attorney. Read the full story at PalmBeachPost.com

— The attorney for a man set to be executed next week told the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday that newly discovered evidence should spare his client from the death penalty. Robert Waterhouse, 65, was sent to death row for the rape and murder of a 29-year-old woman in St. Petersburg in January 1980. Gov. Rick Scott already has signed a death warrant and Waterhouse is scheduled to be put to death Feb. 15. Robert Norgard, Waterhouse's lawyer, tried to convince the justices that a lower court judge was wrong when he found a new witness in the case to be not believable.

Just when you think there might be a tad of common sense and humanity in the world, you hear about a guy like Brad Drake. Drake is the Florida state representative -- a Republican from the Panhandle town of Eucheeanna, wherever that is -- who has made national news by filing a bill to eliminate lethal injections and bring back executions by electrocution or firing squad. Interesting. On the same day, there was a new Gallup poll showing that more than one-third of Americans now oppose the death penalty, the highest level in nearly 40 years. That is undoubtedly because so many death penalty cases have been overturned because of technology like DNA testing or information that wasn't available years ago. According to one report, nearly 140 death row in mates have been exonerated or had their cases overturned on appeal.

Quite a few people were shocked to hear the audience burst into applause at Rick Perry's first Republican presidential debate after they heard that the Texas governor leads the nation in executions. That's why we have debates. They teach you things, not only about the candidates but also about their voters. The applause came after NBC's Brian Williams said, "Your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. " Many were horrified that the conservative Republican audience in the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Southern California would break out in applause.

A commission established by the Florida Legislature nearly 15 years ago to monitor the administration of justice in death penalty post-conviction proceedings has itself been sentenced to death. The unintended consequences may be significant. The Commission on Capital Cases, a relatively obscure organization, was abolished earlier this month purportedly to "save" $400,000 in related costs. Among its tasks was to receive public input, and advise and make recommendations to the governor, Legislature and Florida Supreme Court.

More than 10 years after DNA proved Frank Lee Smith was wrongly convicted of raping and murdering an 8-year-old Fort Lauderdale girl, the lawsuit accusing Broward Sheriff's detectives of framing him is finally scheduled to go to a jury later this year. The suit alleges that a group of rogue homicide detectives operated as a criminal enterprise that faked or coerced incriminating statements from mentally ill and mentally-challenged men in high-profile murder cases that resulted in at least four innocent men being sent to prison.

The final dog sitting on Broward County canine "death row" was released to her owners Friday, the first taste of freedom the pit bull has experienced in two years. Mercedes, who got loose in Fort Lauderdale's Victoria Park neighborhood and killed a family's pet cat, was sentenced to die by Broward County animal control. The county had passed a zero tolerance dangerous dog law in 2008, allowing for euthanasia of a dog after one serious attack on a domestic animal. The county recently reversed the controversial law, but Mercedes remained jailed while her owners awaited a court decision in their lawsuit against the county.